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While dodging the Erewon Armada, the Doctor realises that the TARDIS' Xion crystals have been jolted out of line. The slippage caused the passivator to go into flux and leak coolant into the aethiopathic chamber, leading to the positioning system overheating. What the TARDIS needs is a big jolt.

Luckily, the TARDIS lands inside a giant pinball machine with a strong 1960s American theme (including the Statue of Liberty, fast food mock ups, baseballs, cars and route signs). Ironically, this giant pinball table is being used to punish Gameslaves (people who spend too much time playing computer games) by forcing them to take part in a giant, real-life game by being encapsulated in one of the game's balls. Spectators decide whether the "player" gets to live, based on their game performance.

The Doctor and Rose watch Track R Ball play the game, but Rose mistakenly gets to play the game instead of Joyce Tick. The Doctor, flashing his psychic paper, gets to take control of the game. He manipulate the ball to strike the TARDIS. The ball drops down a hole and the Doctor frees Rose. Both of them make a hasty escape in the TARDIS, which now works properly.